Chapter Text
The music of the wedding filled the air around the dance floor and Raelle allowed herself to let go and relax, finally enjoying a night of freedom from responsibility with the girl she slowly found herself falling in love with.
Raelle glanced upward to find Scylla already looking at her, blue eyes filled with a mixture of love and anxiety.
Raelle’s brow furrowed as she noticed her girlfriend’s worry.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, squeezing Scylla’s shoulder reassuringly.
Scylla’s eyes darted upwards at the sound of the clock chiming. They widened slightly, and Raelle saw a look of panic pass across Scylla’s face.
Scylla shook her head slightly, and the worry and panic seemed to disappear from her face entirely. “Um, nothing.” she spoke, once again meeting eyes with Raelle. “Let’s just dance.”
Raelle smiled back at her and nodded, dismissing her earlier concerns and resuming their dance.
They danced for a few more minutes, simply enjoying each other’s company before Scylla let out a sigh and leaned her head against Raelle’s shoulder.
“Just remember that whatever happens, I love you.” she spoke softly into the blonde’s ear, eyes closed in resignation.
Raelle allowed herself a moment to bask in the love that Scylla declared before she thought about what the girl had really said.
“What do you mean ‘whatever happens’?” Raelle asked, eyebrows furrowed and concern clear in her voice. She pushed Scylla off her and met her eyes. “What’s going on, Scyl?”
There were a few moments of silence where Raelle stared at Scylla in confusion and worry. Scylla swallowed before she opened her mouth to explain.
Before she could speak a word, a loud scream interrupted her, causing everyone to turn towards the buffet table where a woman was pointing up into the sky in horror.
“Balloons!” she cried in terror.
Chaos consumed the wedding, guests desperately pushing others aside in their panic to get inside the house where it might be safe.
Raelle took a second to comprehend before she began to usher people inside, shaking people out of their stupor and yelling at everyone to get inside.
Near the buffet, soldiers and lieutenants began to sing a storm in an effort to push the balloons out of earshot.
Raelle looked around at the dance floor and checked that everyone was headed to safety before she began to run towards the house herself. She paused, however, realizing that her girlfriend wasn’t next to her like she had thought. She desperately looked around, growing more and more panicked as she saw no sign of Scylla.
“Scylla!” she yelled over the noise of the brutal wind, running back to the dance floor in hopes that she was still there.
Before she could search any longer, Raelle found herself distracted by the sudden screams that filled the air. Looking back towards the front of the house, she saw dozens of people filing into the area, presumably more Spree members, beginning to attack the wedding guests.
Raelle launched herself from the dance floor, grabbing her scourge and striking the nearest Spree member. The scourge latched itself on the man’s ankle and dropped him to the ground, and Raelle wasted no time in bringing the whip back up to strike another Spree member running towards her in the chest. She spun around, the whip twirling around her as it struck another incoming enemy, this time in the face, propelling him backwards, holding his cheek in pain.
Before Raelle could continue, the Spree she had knocked down earlier pulled himself off the ground and ran at her, brandishing his dagger. She dodged just in time to avoid a knife to the shoulder, but the blade grazed her upper arm, leaving a large gash. She winced slightly before she was forced to throw herself to the side to dodge the man’s next strike. As she moved, she once again threw her scourge up with deadly force and accuracy, slamming it into the man’s back and knocking him down to the grass where he didn’t move again.
Raelle had no time to rest before more Spree began to surround her. She stood up from the crouch she had been in, finding herself face to face with about 5 Spree members.
There was a slight pause before Raelle grabbed her whip and swung it in an arc around her, hitting three of the Spree and leaving the other two to rush her. She threw herself to the side, dodging their attacks and immediately standing back up, grounding herself and releasing a powerful windshear at the two of them. They were thrown across the grass, landing ten feet away, unconscious.
Before Raelle could react, an enemy launched herself towards her and buried a dagger into Raelle’s shoulder, causing the blonde to release a cry of pain and flinch back, falling onto the grass.
Three smiling enemies now surrounded her, and she groaned as one of them kicked her viciously in the stomach. They all laughed and she gritted her teeth, struggling to stand up once again.
Before any of them could do more, a scream sounded and the Spree members were thrown backwards, away from Raelle.
Raelle looked behind her in confusion and found Tally rushing towards her, eyes concerned.
“Oh my goddess, Raelle,” she exclaimed, helping the blonde off the ground and onto her feet. “Are you okay? Why were you fighting them alone?”
“I’m fine, Tally,” Raelle grunted, brushing herself off and looking around. Spree still milled around the property, locked in battles with other witches. There was still no sign of Scylla in any of the chaos. “Scylla’s gone, I don’t know where.”
Tally grimaced at the mention of Scylla’s disappearance, shaking her head. “Do you know why they are so focused on you?” she asked in confusion.
“What do you mean?” Raelle asked, brows furrowed. She blinked looking around and noticing that many of the other witches were only facing one or two Spree at a time.
“Around six of these guys flocked over to you as soon as the fighting started.” Tally explained, eyes wide. “It took me a while to get over here, I was dealing with some guys of my own.”
Before the two could dwell anymore on the subject, a shout alerted them to two Spree members running at the pair. Raelle reacted first, reaching once again towards her scourge, swinging it in a circle around them, tripping up one of the Spree and causing them to fall to the ground. The other jumped above the whip and continued running, tackling Raelle to the ground as she reached her.
“We are Spree.” she spat in Raelle’s face, pulling her arm back and landing a blow against the girl’s cheek. Before she could strike her again, Tally grabbed the woman and threw her to the ground, screaming at her and launching her across the garden in a rage.
As the next Spree came at her, Tally took out her own whip, swinging it in an elaborate spiral and striking the man in and the chest and sweeping his legs out from under him. The force of the blows left him unmoving on the grass as Tally ran back towards Raelle.
She helped the girl up, grabbing Raelle’s shoulders in both assurance and an attempt to steady the girl, as she wobbled dangerously as soon as she stood up. Raelle grunted in pain at the grip on her shoulder wound, and Tally immediately drew her arm back.
“Sorry, Raelle.” she spoke quickly, glancing around to check for anymore immediate threats. Finding none, she turned around to face Raelle once again. “C’mon we have to find Abigail.”
Raelle nodded in agreement, blinking a couple times and shaking her head, trying to regain her focus. Her shoulder wound was throbbing with pain, and she could feel the bruise forming where she had been kicked. Not to mention the massive bruise that would inevitably form on her cheek. That wasn’t gonna be fun.
She forced herself to clear her clouded mind, running after Tally towards the house. They ducked past the numerous battles surrounding the lawn, approaching the entrance of the mansion.
Walking in, Raelle and Tally found themselves faced with two Spree, and before anyone could move, Raelle launched herself forwards, throwing her leg out and sweeping the first enemy to the ground, swiftly knocking him unconscious with a kick to the face. Tally followed Raelle’s lead, brandishing her whip at the other Spree, swinging it in a dangerous arc that knocked the woman to the ground unmoving along with her associate.
Both Tally and Raelle ran up the stairs, worried for Abigail. Running through the hallway, they heard a rustle coming from one of the bedrooms. Leaving no room for consideration, Raelle threw herself at the door, bursting into the room and finding Abigail locked in a struggle with three Spree members.
She and Tally launched into action, joining the fight. Raelle grappled with the man near the door, catching him off-guard. She tackled him to the floor and landed a few punches before he threw her off of him. Landing hard, Raelle barely had time to dodge the man’s foot flying towards her face. She launched up from the floor, swinging her whip and knocking down the man with a swift blow to the chest.
Tally ran to the attackers near Abigail, throwing herself towards the woman nearest to her and landing a kick to the woman’s stomach. Abigail herself recovered from her vulnerable position, launching her knee into the other man’s groin as he was distracted and then knocking him out with a hard punch to the jaw and a kick in the gut.
Tally finished the fight, viciously kicking the woman in the face, knocking her swiftly unconscious.
Heavy breathing filled the room as the girls allowed themselves a moment of rest. However, all three of them jumped when Abigail’s mother burst into the room, a mix of worry and fury evident on her face.
“Oh, Abigail!” she cried, rushing over to her daughter. “You’re okay! I was so worried!”
“I’m okay mom,” Abigail chuckled softly, returning her mother’s hug. “Is everyone else okay?”
The woman took a moment to collect herself before she released her daughter. She turned to address all the girls. “Charvel and her husband made it out okay. Charvel managed to fend off an attacker long enough for me to find her after the attack began. I left to come find you and she went outside to help the others.”
There was a moment of silence before Abigail spoke, nodding. “We should go help too.”
Raelle and Tally nodded their agreement, and Abigail’s mother also agreed. “Let’s go help our sisters, girls”
The group ran back down the stairs and towards the lawn. They found themselves faced with a few scattered battles taking place across the grass. Tally and Abigail ran to assist the witch across the lawn while Raelle and Petra faced off against the two Spree next to the entrance. Between the two of them, they were able to take down the enemies relatively fast and they rejoined the others after a few minutes.
The witches were able to fend off the attack rather well, overall. While there were some losses, the terrorists were mostly defeated, and many witches were left standing.
After a few moments, the guests began to tentatively file out of the mansion, gazing upon the field of fallen Spree and witches and upon the still-standing soldiers all spread out across the property.
Raelle ignored the guests and instead focused on one of the Spree next to them that was slowly waking up.
She approached the man, leaning down and gripping the front of his shirt. She glared at him threateningly and narrowed her eyes. ‘Why did you attack us?” she spat at the man. “What was this attack about?”
The man chuckled softly, only to be interrupted by his own cough, blood flying from his mouth. “We are the Spree.” he gargled as the other witches began to surround them. “And you will join us soon enough.”
Raelle furrowed her brows in confusion as the man simply grinned. Suddenly, a dagger flew upwards, cutting Raelle’s forearm and forcing her to lose her grip on the man’s shirt.
“You will join us soon enough, Raelle Collar, whether you want to or not.” he called tauntingly to her as he fell back against the grass. Without warning, he brought the dagger to his neck and sliced his throat without hesitation.
Raelle reeled back, gripping her arm in pain as blood poured from the wound. As the man died, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his prone form.
Why did he know her name?
Voices. People were talking to her. She shook her head, trying to clear her crowded head.
She looked up and found herself face to face with Lieutenant Anacostia. She was talking to her. “...Private? Are you hearing me?”
Raelle blinked hard, eyes meeting with Anacostia. “Where’s Scylla?” she asked. She needed Scylla. Where was she?
Anacostia simply looked at her, face unchanged. Then she looked up at Tally and Abigail. “Go get her somewhere safe.” she said. “She’s hurt, don’t let her do anything stupid.” She threw a look back down at Raelle.
Raelle forced herself to stand, ignoring the wave of dizziness that overtook her as soon as she did. “Where is Scylla?” she asked again, desperation creeping into her voice.
Anacostia began to walk away.
Raelle went to run after the woman, only to be held back by Tally. She turned back to face her unit partner, panic clear on her face. “Why won’t she answer me?” Raelle asked her. “Where is Scylla? What aren’t you telling me?”
Tally just looked at her in sympathy.
Raelle could feel herself become gradually more dizzy. Where was her girlfriend? Why wasn’t anyone answering her? She was suddenly aware of just how much her shoulder hurt, not to mention her arm. She blinked hard, noticing the blackness creeping over the edge of her vision.
The last thing she saw was Tally rushing forward, eyes filled with concern. Then everything went black.